What's wrong with my 8600GTS?

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Synomenon

Supreme [H]ardness
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Feb 10, 2007
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I have an EVGA 8600GTS Superclocked. Whenever Vista starts, right when the desktop appears on the screen I see lots of pink and other colored blocks flashing on the screen. It's kind of like when a video card overheats or something.

Anyone else experience something similar with the 8600GTS? What could be causing this? I had a 7900GT CO Superclocked and never had this problem.
 
I got the 8600GTS for the DX10 "feature". I use Vista Ultimate so I thougth I'd need a DX10 card. I'm still within Newegg's 30 day return policy so I'll just RMA it and maybe get a 7950GT Superclocked or that passively cooled XFX 7950GT. My PC is a Shuttle SD39P2 and a double slot card would block my PCI slot (currently occupied by my ATI Theater 650 card). The passive XFX 7950GT looks nice, but I'd have to do some case cutting to get it to fit.

Is this artifacting problem commong in overclocked 8600GTSs?
 
What I'm about to say is meant to be 100% respectful. I am, in no way, trying to insult you or anyone.

If I were you, I would RMA it and try and get your money back. For one, Vista does not require DX10 to run. Running DirectX 9.0L is all you need for Vista which a 7900GT runs just fine on. Secondly, there aren't any DX10 games out yet, and I can guarantee you that when they are released, it won't be until the second generation of DX10 cards that you'll really start seeing the performance edge. Thirdly, an 8600GTS is a pretty lateral upgrade to a 7900GT. Sure, they're great cards, but unless you're playing newer, heavier shader oriented games like STALKER and Oblivion, you're going to see less performance out of it than you would your 7900GT.

If you want a real upgrade over a 7900GT that's going to last a while, I would recommend a 8800GTS 320mb or better. But, buying an 8600GTS to replace a 7900GT seems a bit silly to me. I would recommend doing a little bit more homework next time.
 
Ranari said:
If you want a real upgrade over a 7900GT that's going to last a while, I would recommend a 8800GTS 320mb or better. But, buying an 8600GTS to replace a 7900GT seems a bit silly to me. I would recommend doing a little bit more homework next time.
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I agree with this ^^.

When games start coming out that require dx10, you're not going to want a mid-tier card like the 8600gts pushing your pixels. RMA the card and be happy with your, still decent, 7900GT for now. Or, sell the 7900GT and get yourself 8800gts 320 or 640 (depending on resolution you run).
 
how much did that card cost? your 7900gt will bench aroound the same, it only lacks dx10. if you really want an upgrade you have to go to the 8800gts 320. and vista only needs dx9.
 
I would have purchased an 8800GTS instead, but there are people like me that own SFF PCs. Mine is a Shuttle SD39P2 XPC. It has one PCI slot and one PCIe 16x slot. I need the ATI Theater 650 card I have in the PCI slot and if I got an 8800GTS it would block the PCI slot. I guess I'll be exchanging this 8600GTS with one of the 7950GTs on Newegg.
 
for a sff that should be a great card, you just got a bad one. i would get a plain jane one, no factory overclocking. it will run cooler.
 
Which card, the 8600GTS or the passively cooled XFX 7950GT? I'm running NVIDIA monitor and Everest and this defective 8600GTS idles around 50C.
 
IsLNdbOi said:
Which card, the 8600GTS or the passively cooled XFX 7950GT? I'm running NVIDIA monitor and Everest and this defective 8600GTS idles around 50C.
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Just ask yourself if you want power now or features later. Power now would be the 7950. Features later would be the 8600GTS. If your the type that upgrades once a year or more get the 7950 because by the time DX10 is prime time and games are shipping exclusive to it, it should be about time to upgrade again. If your the type that tries to squeeze 2+ years out of your hardware get the 8600GTS for the future whether it runs DX10 well is debatable but at least you know it will.

Best option would be to save some cash and just get the refund for the 8600 and wait until you have enough for an 8800. Its not like your 7900GT is a chump. Besides i dont think either card will be a big enough upgrade to warrant the cash unless you get an 8800.
 
Like I mentioned above, dual slot cards are a no go for me. I guess I'll go with the 7950GT since I already sold my 7900GT.
 
IsLNdbOi said:
Like I mentioned above, dual slot cards are a no go for me. I guess I'll go with the 7950GT since I already sold my 7900GT.
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First of all, yes, your card seems to be artifacting. If it's factory overclocked, try to underclock it and see what happens. If the problem doesn't happen again, then it was being caused by the high frequencies that the card was set. It's time for RMA.

About exchanging the card, everyone seems to be set on the idea that the 8600 GTS is a bad card. It's NOT a bad card. On the contrary. If you like to play shader intensive games, it will beat the crap out of any 7900 GT or 7950 GT. In other cases, it really isn't much faster (or not faster at all), but since shader intensive games is the trend and future games will follow it, no doubt, the GTS will do much better.

To sum up, I would RMA the card and get another 8600 GTS. Yes, the 8800 GTS 320 would be a much better upgrade, but overall, the 8600 GTS is a better card, than a 7900 GT or 7950 GT.
 
Hmmm... Now I'm confused about what to do. 8600GTS or 7950GT. If the 8600GTS will do better than the 7950GT in shader intensive games then I'll get another 8600GTS. The 8600GTS is a mid-range card so I don't think EVGA's step up program will offer me anything. I guess I'll try XFX's 8600GTS XXX.

Edit:
Oh my monitor is a Dell 2407WFP. I like to run things at the monitor's max native res. (1920 x 1200) or the highest res. a program will run. Does that make any difference with which card I get?
 
IsLNdbOi said:
I guess I'll try XFX's 8600GTS XXX.
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I have the XFX 8800GTS 640MB XXX Edition, works great, no problems out of it even when it had the stock cooler on, and no it won't matter which card you get, they should all support that res.
 
IsLNdbOi said:
Hmmm... Now I'm confused about what to do. 8600GTS or 7950GT. If the 8600GTS will do better than the 7950GT in shader intensive games then I'll get another 8600GTS. The 8600GTS is a mid-range card so I don't think EVGA's step up program will offer me anything. I guess I'll try XFX's 8600GTS XXX.

Edit:
Oh my monitor is a Dell 2407WFP. I like to run things at the monitor's max native res. (1920 x 1200) or the highest res. a program will run. Does that make any difference with which card I get?
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Ah, that makes things different. At that res, not even a 8800 GTS 320 will be enough. A GTS 640 is your best bet, for around $350. Of course, there's the GTX/Ultra, but I don't think you want to spend that much money.
A 8600 GTS is not suited for such high-resolutions. It's a mid-range card that suits best, those with monitors not larger than 19''.
 
Overclock the card, mine is at 710/1130

The performance is pretty close to my 7900gt if they had made the card 256bit i think it would easily outperform the 7900gt and i tihnk that is the main reason why they made it 128 bit
 
I've been using a 7900GT CO Superclocked by EVGA with this 2407WFP + 1704FPT. I usually play WoW, but I also play Quake 4 and BF2142. I've been playing those games with my 7900GT and I've been getting pretty decent frame rates and graphics quality (not highest settings though). Not sure what to get now. Will the 512MB in the 7950GT be better for me than even XFX's 8600GTS XXX (the highest factory overclocked 8600GTS I've found).

I can't use a double slot card as I mentioned above.
 
IsLNdbOi said:
I've been using a 7900GT CO Superclocked by EVGA with this 2407WFP + 1704FPT. I usually play WoW, but I also play Quake 4 and BF2142. I've been playing those games with my 7900GT and I've been getting pretty decent frame rates and graphics quality (not highest settings though). Not sure what to get now. Will the 512MB in the 7950GT be better for me than even XFX's 8600GTS XXX (the highest factory overclocked 8600GTS I've found).

I can't use a double slot card as I mentioned above.
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The 8600 GTS will handle that res, but as you did with your 7900 GT, you will need to compromise a few eye candy settings.
I don't know what are your expectations as a gamer. I guess I would put it this way:

1024x768 - 1280x1024: Ideal resolutions for a 8600 GTS. Depending on the game, you'll get smooth gameplay and won't need to compromise eye candy. Maybe lower the AA level a bit.

1600x1200 - 1920x1200: To achieve smooth gameplay, you'll need to compromise some eye candy options, especially AA, which will probably need to be set to no more than 2x or off completely.

If you are ok with these compromises, then the 8600 GTS will be more than enough for you. If not, you should be thinking about getting a GTS 320 or GTS 640. The GTS 640 would no doubt last you longer, at that res.
 
My machine I built for my girlfriend has an xfx 8600gts xxx inside and I'm pretty satisfied with the results. Reviews are helpful and full of information, but all in all with real world experience, this thing has handled WoW on max settings at 1680x1050, Supreme Commander at medium/medium high details at 1024x768, GRAW at medium high at 1280x1024, and Counter Strike Source at 1680x1050 on max details. No it's not a 8800 ultra, but it's an admirable performer.
 
Well I've had the XFX 7950GT XXX for a couple of weeks now and future driver updates for the 7 series looks bleak. Looks like NVIDIA is focusing all driver development on the 8 series now. With this 7950GT, when Vista starts up the screen refreshes and flickers a couple of times. After Vista starts up the very first right click causes the screen to refresh and flicker as well. Also, I get alot of those little popups from the taskbar saying that the graphics card driver isn't responding.

I guess I'll return this card as well and get another 8600GTS. Not sure if I should stay away from the factory overclocked ones though. I've seen some posts here and there with people having problems with the factory overclocked 8600GTSs.
 
IsLNdbOi said:
Well I've had the XFX 7950GT XXX for a couple of weeks now and future driver updates for the 7 series looks bleak. Looks like NVIDIA is focusing all driver development on the 8 series now. With this 7950GT, when Vista starts up the screen refreshes and flickers a couple of times. After Vista starts up the very first right click causes the screen to refresh and flicker as well. Also, I get alot of those little popups from the taskbar saying that the graphics card driver isn't responding.

I guess I'll return this card as well and get another 8600GTS. Not sure if I should stay away from the factory overclocked ones though. I've seen some posts here and there with people having problems with the factory overclocked 8600GTSs.
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I got those problems as well in vista but a clean re-install of the drivers DCpro etc. took most of the problems away still had the occasional message saying the display drivers have stopped or whatever it was.
 
pfunkman said:
I got those problems as well in vista but a clean re-install of the drivers DCpro etc. took most of the problems away still had the occasional message saying the display drivers have stopped or whatever it was.
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What's "DCPro etc."? I'm using the latest drivers directly from NVIDIA's site for the 7 series on a clean install of Vista Ultimate x64. How would reinstalling the drivers fix some of the problems?

I've also read quite a few threads here and there where people are saying that NVIDIA won't be working on 7 series drivers for Vista much anymore unless big problems or bugs are found in them. They're going to be focusing on 8 series Vista drivers.
 
Vista is either letting your card overheat with the know Nvidia driver or you got a bad Superclocked and is overheating and need to Rma it ....But before you do id play with the drivers and make shure your Card is SWITCHING 2dmode to 3Dmode fan speed...


If you got the Superclocked for a good deal id keep it over the 7900 any day...7900 have crapy picture compared and the 8600GTS performs just as good and even better in some games excluding the bs Fps stuff you read about because people like benches and benches arnt everything! matter of fact my Non superclocked is @710Mhz and shader 1512 /2150mhz mem i run Rivatuner Fan 100% stable..

Next is that Vista and Nvidia are having driver problems under Aero platform 3Dmode fan sometimes wont work at correct speed under Vista!...Chances are the Card is getting hot from lack of fan Speed at windows vista start up!


Here are two Screens of 8600GTS pictureQaulity compared to 7900Gs in TombRaider Lengends X64bit with the Next Generation Filter and Antialiasing Content full max in Widescreen @1024x768 and was the same @1280x1024!....Eithier way the 7series dint play with The New Gen Content smooth at all was choppy and could not display newer shading textures Hmmmmmm.

7900Gs/7950Ko512mb 93.71driver 1024x768 @75Hz All Eycandy on!

7950fullEYCANDY.jpg


8600GTS 256mb n761 158.19driver 1024x768 @75Hz All Eycandy on!

8600GTSfullon.jpg


This is why i have a 8600GTS in my Backup Gaming Rig over a 7series card plus DVD's perform night and day and the Card is only slightly less in FPS compared to 7series but looks way BETTER!.Plays every Game Whether you have all eyecandy on or not with better Visuals than a 7series...Bench marks dont tell you that and the Picture Qaulity is EQual to its bigger brother the 8800 same Shader and Graphics technology and a Newer Video play back, better than the 8800:D

This is what i know from Gaming on the 5200 5500 5700 6800 6800ultra 7800 7900 7950 8600GTS 8800GTS ....and ATIx800 x1600Pro x1950....so i guess i would know that bench marks are Bull Scrappy! Real life Gaming is where its at :D

Make shure your(((( Monitor Display Driver )))is installed, if it isnt it can cause colors and Gamma to go out of whach under Vista.. ! Also use no less than a 158.xx driver or higher for that card ,Ive been there and the 158.22 driver does the same thing under Xp pro but was fixed when i reinstalled the 158.19 XP..so check your Vista Drivers!Where one driver will make your card crappy one will make amazing....Buy the way most 8600GTS were tested under Beta 158.16 drivers and not the optimized 158.18 or 158.19 or 158.22 and the 160.02 or160.03 which will change the Benches anyhow.
 
My XFX 7950GT is passively cooled hence no fan. I'm monitoring the card's temps. and it never goes above 50 degrees C.

I have my eye on the XFX 8600GTS that has the 730MHz core clock and 2.26GHZ mem., I'm not sure if I should get an overclocked one though because the EVGA 8600GTS Superclocked model I got didn't work too well either. It was always causing artifacting and like I've said above, I have seen some posts here and there where people say that the factory overclocked 8600GTSs are somehow defective and to stay away from them. They say to go with the 8600GTSs that come with the reference clocks.
 
Ya i use the Referance clock one its a n761 Evga 8600GTS ...

The first one i had was a Superclocked and it would artifact from memory running too High Stock! so i returned it and have overclocked my n761stock referance to 710/1512/1075=2150 and i am very happy ..It replaced a 7950 512mb which i put side by side in 1024x768 on 21"widescreen and was more pleased with the 8600GTS eycandy and smoothness and PictureQaulity and same FPS with games that i play.... CSS ,Americas Army ,Bf2, TombraiderLegends ,Unreal4 and FarCry... All i know is i like the overall performance of the GTS hands down..

Now if i was Playing at 1650X1024 my native resolution my picture Qaulity was always better even if i used lower AA/Af than the 7950 or had slower FPS ...the GTS really is that much more able to process textures and Lightmaps lensflare ect are better than any 7series . the 8600GTS has same Technology the 8800! even better Dvd playback.But if you want the most FPS@highest Res get the 7950...Because thats all the 7950 will get you and it will lack many options that the GTS has to offer and Dx 10 which is growing fast now and for only 10% improvement FPS and no Picture improvement over the 8600GTS what so ever..So im happy,
.
 
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